The purest distillations of noir ideology, a Hollywood mutation of the Gothic imported with the palm tree, function as allegories for the history of Los Angeles. Noir, in Paul Schrader’s view, eludes classification as a genre insofar as it eschews “conventions of setting and conflict” in favor of “the more subtle qualities of tone and mood.” In such a world, “style becomes paramount; it is all that separates one from meaninglessness.” Or, as Lana stans might have it, noir is a vibe. Though “the how is always more important than the what” in noir, overriding themes surface: characters are sworn to “a narcissistic, defeatist code”; unable to survive one day at a time, they “can only take pleasure in reliving a doomed past.”
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